Lawrence Trent (born 28 April 1986) is an English International Master chess player and commentator.

He has also host-commentated for independent super-tournaments, including the London Chess Classic from 2009 to 2014.

His father taught him how to play chess when he was 8 years old as a rainy-day alternative to his youth football games.

Before returning to chess, Trent spent time in Mexico coaching promising students there.

After listening to Trent on the pilot episode, tournament director Malcolm Pein invited him to host-commentate the annual London Chess Classic.

This enabled him to gain the experience necessary to co-commentate the FIDE World Championship Candidates Tournament in 2013 with GM Nigel Short.

[7] Following the Candidates Tournament, Trent host-commentated the 2013 FIDE World Cup with GM Susan Polgar.

[3] They focused on simplified analysis, relied very little on computers, and directed their commentary toward the general viewer rather than the experienced player.

[4] He also served as analytical commentator for the 2014 Millionaire Chess Tournament (Las Vegas, USA)[14] as well as appearing in its film documentary.

[15] He currently serves as commentator for the Chess24.com chess platform, which hosts live commentary for major tournaments throughout the year.

[5] From a promising tournament result at the Porto San Giorgio Open in 2003, he followed up with two strong performances in the 4NCL to claim his IM title in 2005.

Porto San Giorgio was also where he scored his first Grandmaster norm, with back-to-back victories in 2005 and 2006.

[17] He has not yet managed to secure his final GM norm, but has made some attempts.

[20] One of Trent's victories in a 4NCL League match game (Barbican 4NCL 2 v Wood Green) resulted in an unusual position remaining on the board.

The finish of Trent vs Tan was presented in Edward Winter's Chess Explorations, and is a position on which FM Jonathan Rogers commented: "A novel situation, as far as I know.

[21] Trent received a prize for the best game in the 2013 Andorra Open in Erts La Massana.

[22] It was his victory was from the Black side of an Albin Countergambit in the third round against Héðinn Steingrímsson: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. de5 d4 4.